For the Daily Journal
COLUMBUS
Center Grove has made a habit of getting off to slow starts during its late-season slide.
Thursday night’s regular-season finale was no exception. The Trojans fell behind 13-2 after the first quarter and went on to take their eighth loss in the past nine games, a 62-44 setback at Columbus North.
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“Our last eight games, we’ve gotten off to a slow start every game,” Center Grove coach Zach Hahn said. “We were down 10 against the last eight teams we’ve played. We fight back, but then you’re emotionally run out. Tonight, we started fouling. We had our hands all over them, and we didn’t keep them in front. We had five guys with two fouls in the first half. The slow starts have killed us for the last seven or eight games. It’s made it real tough on us.”
The Bull Dogs (18-5) jumped out to a 7-0 lead and enjoyed a 13-2 advantage after one quarter. They extended the lead to 17-5 a half-minute into the second quarter, but then the Trojans (7-14) came to life. Landin Hacker and Tyler Cerny hit back-to-back 3-pointers to ignite a 14-4 run that brought them within 21-19.
“We were excited about the fact that they battled through a little bit of that adversity,” Hahn said. “But at the end of the day, Columbus North is a good team. They executed their stuff better than we did, and the bad starts put us in a really bad position. It’s hard to dig your way out when you’re struggling to score the ball.”
The Trojans hit five 3-pointers in the second quarter but still trailed 28-23 at halftime.
“We had a couple breakdowns defensively in the second (quarter),” Columbus North coach Paul Ferguson said. “We gave up three 3s in a matter of about two minutes. One of them was, we did a possession of zone, and Center Grove did a nice job of screening it. Then on two of them, we just didn’t quite get out quick enough, and they’re a team that shoots a lot of 3s. That’s a big part of their offense. But then I thought we rebounded from that and did a pretty good job of adjusting to what they were doing offensively.”
The Bull Dogs built the lead to 40-33 after three quarters before pulling away in the fourth. They led by as big as 62-40 with a minute to play before the Trojans scored the final four points.
Hacker finished with 16 points to lead all scorers. Cerny led Center Grove on the boards with four rebounds.
The Trojans now turn their attention to Tuesday’s first-round Shelbyville Sectional matchup against Franklin Central.
“Our guys have to do some soul searching after tonight,” Hahn said. “After the regular season is a brand new season when you get to the postseason. So it’s one of those things where if we can change our mentality a little bit and dig our heels in, we’ll have a chance. But we’re going to play a really good FC team who is a lot like Columbus North in the fact that they’re really good offensively.”